Safety razor



T. P. SALLEY May 30, 1933.

SAFETY RAZOR Original Filed Sept. 17. 1931 v ZMWQ) INVENTOR l'ham es'rd aaey ATTORNEY WITNESSES on the line Patented May 30, 1933 UNITED STATES THOMAS P. SALLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SAFETY RAZOR Application filed September 17, 1931, Serial No. 563,437. Renewed. December 21, 1932.

This invention relates to improvements in razors, especially in the type known as safety razors, and it consists of the construc tions, combinations and arrangements heren described and claimed.

An object of the invention is to equip a razor blade of the stiff-back type with a swingable guard which is intended to convert the blade into a safety razor, this guard having means which not only limits the swinging thereof in reference to the edge of the blade but also acts against parts of the blade to produce a brake, so to speak, preventing an objectionably loose swinging of the guard and insuring that the guard will stay in one or the other of its two positions during ordinary use.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for both swingably or pivotally mounting the guard on the blade and at the same time providing an adjustment whereby the foregoing braking efiect can be increased or diminished.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specifications, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which F lgure 1 18 aside elevatn of the 1mproved safety razor,

Figure 2 is a cross section taken on the line 22 of Figure 1,

Figure 8 is an enlarged end view illustrating the safety razor in use,

Figure 1 is a horizontal section taken 1- 1 of Figure 1, particularly illustrating the braking means which con stitutes one of the outstanding features of the invention,

In carrying out the invention provision is made of a razor blade 1 having a stiff back 2 and a shank 3, which shank differs from theshank of an ordinary stiff-back razor only by the slight arching thereof at v 4 where it joins the stiff back, this to make room for a pair of pivot screws 5, 6 upon which the improved guard 7 is hung in such a way that the guard would swing across the blade edge 8 from one side to the other as depicted by the dotted line positions in Figure 2.

fifths of the over-all width of the blade so i as to provide more metal into which to drill the subsequently tapped screw holes 9. But at this point it is desired to say that the offsetting of the handle 3 at the arch 4 and the deepening of the back 2 are not absolutely essential to the carrying out of the principle of the invention because mechanical methods may be devised for the pivotal hanging of the guard 7 without deviating from the commonly known form of stiff-back razor blade in the least.

Insofar as the guard 7 is concerned, this comprises nothing more than a wire of appropriate metal usually round in cross section, but not necessarily so. This wire is bent into the form of an exaggerated U (Fig. 1) thereby providing parallel arms 10 which are preferably flattened at 11 so as to make ample room for the drilling of the necessary holes in which to receive the screws 5, 6.

Although the screws 5, 6 will probably be threaded all the way, this not being necessarily so, the holes in the flattened ends 11 will be sufficiently over-size to hang the ends on the screws quite freely and to be capable of permitting the guard 7 to partake of that degree of turning of which it is permitted. The threaded ends of the screws 5, 6 are screwed into the screw holes 9 and so are capable of adjustment in reference to the razor blade so as to variably press the guard parts, comprising the parallel arms 10 toward the blade, and consequently to vary the braking effect of the braking surfaces presently described.

Washers 12 may be interposed between the flattened ends 11 and the ends 13, 14 of the razor thus spacing the arms 10 a desirable distance away from the blade ends 13, 14 and preventing the possibility of the arms 10 from hooking the blade and so 0bstructing the turning movement.

The screws 5, 6 have knurled heads 15, 16 which enable turning the screws in and out to tighten the guard 7, loosen it or remove it entirely. There is a direct combination between the use of the screws 5, G and a pair of detents 17, 18, this combination, as well as the features of the elements themselves constituting what is herein regarded as the invention.

These detents are virtually nothing more than pairs of fin ers 19, 20 (Fig. t) which reach outa slight distance in the direction of the blade 1 and serve to limit the winging movement of the guard 7, because it is by the arms 10 of the guard that the detents are carried. Each of the detents includes a little bridge 21 (Fig. 4:) which is in the nature of a slight offset from the re spective arm 10. The amount of offset is somewhat greater than the thickness of the washers 12. In other words, the washers 12 are thinner than the amount of offset, and necessarily so in order to permit the frictional adjustment of the screws 5 and 6.

The bridges 21 (Fig. l) are actually braking surfaces which are intended to exercise a frictional drag of more or less degree on the blade ends 13 and 1 1, so that instead of letting the guard 7 swing back and forth idly, thereby to set up a clatter and cause an annoyance when the razor is in use, the guard 7 will be compelled to remain in one or the other of its two positions (Fig. 2) while the razor is in use. The frictional drag is acquired by turning one or the other of the knurled heads 15, 16. The effect of this turning will be a slight bending of the respective arm 10 so that the bridge 21 of that arm will bear against the blade end 13 or 14 a littleharder.

It is easy to see that the frictional drag can be acquired by turning one or the other of the two knurled heads 15, 16. This purpose of the invention would be carried out by providing a fixed pivot at one end of the guard and leaving it to the suspending means at the other end of the guard to enable the frictional adjustment. However, for present purposes it is preferable to provide the two adjusting means, because an additional purpose of these is to enable a total unscrewing of the two screws 5 and 6 and the consequent removal of the guard 7 for any of the various purposes that one might think of.

The operation of the safety razor is readily understood. Consider Figure 3, and also consider the screws 5, .6 as having been set at such an adjustment whereat there is just enough frictional drag between the bridges 21 (Fig. 4) and the blade ends 13, 1 1 that the guard 7 will stay at either of its swung positions (Fig. 2). The user can apply the razor to his face and will note a total absence of swinging motion of the guard 7. As already brought out, it will be highly objectionable for the guard 7 to swing back and forth freely both on the ground of the j angling noise and interference with shaving. It is even possible to adjust one or the other of the screws 5. 6 to that extent where the guard 7 will stay permanently in an adjusted position, for example as in Figure 3, although. the preferred adjustment is that wherein the guard 7 will swing outwardly upon contact with one side of the face (Fig. 3) and then swing outwardly in the opposite direction when the razor is applied to the other side of the face.

From what has been said it will be understood that there is a direct combination between the screws 5, 6 and the detents 17, 18 (Fig. 1). The detents embody the bridges or braking surfaces 21 which act against the blade ends 13, 1%. But the screws 5, 6 are employed to vary the degree of the braking efiect so that the guard 7 may be made to swing back and forth more freely.

The necessary stropping or honing of the blade 1 is not interfered with in the least by the presence of the guard 7 and its accessories. At such time the frictional adjustment of the braking surfaces 21 is of no little importance since the foregoing operations would be interfered with if the guard 7 were permitted to drag either over the strop or the stone. The guard 7 will be held up away from the sharpening surface so that the operation can be carried out without impediment.

In reference to the duplicate pivot screws 5, 6, it has been mentioned that the adjustable quality may be confined to only one end of the razor blade, but the double supporting screws are desirable for the following rea sons :It is conceivable that repeated adjustments of the screws 5, for instance, may exhaust the range of adjustment, in other words the screw 5 may be driven in as far as it will go and yet not vary the braking effect of the respective bridge 21. The second screw 6 would then become a reserve adjustment, beginning braking adjustments of its bridge 21 where those of the other bridge left off.

I claim 1. In a safety razor comprising a stiffback blade, and a guard for the cutting edge of the blade; braking means on a part of the guard to engage a part of the blade, pivotal means providing a pivotal support for the guard on said blade enabling the blade to swing in reference to the blade edge, and means by which said pivotal means is adjustably carried by the blade to variable press said guard part toward the blade and vary the braking effect of said braking means.

2. In a safety razor comprising a stiffback blade, a guard for the cutting edge of the blade, and a detent carried by a part of the guard and consisting of a pair of fingers extending over an adjacent part of the blade but spaced in relationship thereto; a bridge between said fingers constituting a braking surface engaging the adjacent end of the blade, and means for pivotally mounting the guard on the blade, one of said means being adjustable in respect to the blade to affect the adjacent part of the guard and thereby vary the frictional engagement of said braking means with said end of the blade.

3. In a safety razor comprising a stiffback blade, a guard for the cutting edge of the blade, said guard having parallel arms extending beside the ends of the blade, and a detent on one of the arms comprising a pair of fingers in spaced relationship to opposite sides of the blade; a bric ge between said fingers being offset from the respective arm and in braking contact with the adjacent end of the blade, flattened ends com prising the terminals of said arms, and screws passing through the flattened ends and being threaded into the razor blade, one of said screws being adjustable against the respective flattened end to correspondingly affect the respective guard arm and thereby vary the frictional contact of said bridge.

4. In a safety razor comprising a stiffback blade, and a guard for the cutting edge of the blade, said guard having parallel arms beside the ends of the blade; flattened ends constituting the terminals of said arms, means to pivotally support the guard on the blade at the flattened ends, washers disposed between the flattened ends and the ends of the blade thereby to space the arms from the ends of the blade, and a pair of fingers on one of the arms spaced from opposite sides of the blade and having a bridge therebetween en aging the adja cent end of the blade, said bridge being thicker than the washers.

5. In a safety razor comprising a stiffback blade, and a guard for the cutting edge of the blade including parallel arms extending beside the ends of the blade; braking means on each of the arms to engage the adjacent blade ends, and duplicate pivot screws passing through the guard arms and screwed into the ends of the razor blade, to enable longitudinal adjustment of the guard to bring either braking means into contact with the blade.

THOMAS P. SALLEY. 

